Wire guides for terminal attaching machines



9,, 1966 P. J. HERE 3,264,86G

WIRE GUIDES FOR TERMINAL ATTACHING MACHINES Filed Feb. 3, 1954 INVENTOR.

PMz/p J H525 BY F g faw/ M W United States Patent 3,264,860 WIRE GUIDES FOR TERMINAL ATTACHING MACHINES Philip J. Herb, North Branch, N.J., assignor to The Thomas & Betts Company, Incorporated, Elizabeth, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Feb. 3, 1964, Ser. No. 341,961 7 Claims. (Cl. 72-457) The present invention relates to improvements in terminal attaching machines and more particularly to an improved wire guide for terminal attaching machines which receives the end of the wire to which a terminal is to be attached and guides it correctly into the attaching position in the terminal attaching machine and which provides for the easy removal of the wire after the terminal attaching operation has been completed.

In standard terminal attaching machines such as that illustrated in co-pending application S.N. 287,881, a strip of terminals is fed by an indexing pawl along a fiat surface until the terminal still attached to the strip is crimped onto a lead of a wire by a ram having attached to it a terminal crimping tool and a cutoff blade. When the ram descends, the terminal crimping tool causes a terminal to be crimped on to the wire and insulation while at the same time cutting ofli the terminal crimped on the wire lead from the strip of terminals. As described in our co-pending application, a wire handling device which operates in synohronism with the terminal attaching machine feeds a wire to the terminal attaching station for each reciprocating cycle of the ram of the terminal attaching machine. In order to properly position the wire to which a terminal is to be attached, a wire guide is provided. The wire guide described and shown in our copending application comprised an upper plate having a converging slot milled in its underside which was pivotally mounted and held in its normal position by a leaf spring and a bottom leaf spring mounted on the lower side of the plate which tended to close the converging slot formed After a terminal had been attached, the feed drum would carry the wire past the terminal attaching position pulling the wire out of the wire guide. Removal of the wire from the wire guide was also aided by the ejection lip of a feed pawl which indexed the strip of terminals to be crimped onto the Wires. This latter method of removal of the wire from the wire guide after the terminal crimping operation has proven largely unsatisfactory since often times the insulation on the wire was damaged in removal from the wire guide and at times the wire would not be completely removed from the guide and would tend to entangle with the next wire to be crimped.

It is thus an object of this invention to provide a means for properly positioning a wire With respect to a terminal attaching machine so that a terminal will be correctly attached to each wire.

It is a further object of this invention to provide for means in a terminal attaching machine to properly position a wire for attaching of a terminal while providing for easy removal of said wire from the terminal attaching position after the terminal attaching operation.

With these and other object-s and advantages in mind, the device of this invention will be better understood by considering the description of elements set forth below along with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view of a portion of the terminal attaching machine and the automatic wire handling device including the wire guide of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical section view taken along line 22 in FIG. 1 and showing a wire positioned with respect to a terminal prior to being attached thereto.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section view taken along line 3 of FIG. 2 and showing the wire guide of the present invention in a closed position.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section view showing the wire guide of FIG. 3 after a terminal has been attached to the wire and the wire guide is in its open position.

In the fragmentary view shown in FIG. 1, only the portions of the automatic wire handling device and terminal attaching machine are shown which are needed to explain the present invention. The portion of the automatic handling machine on the right shows a fragment of a feed drum 10 provided with slots .12 carrying wires 14 which are to have terminals attached to their lead ends. Feed drum 10 carries a wire 14 to a position in alignment with terminal attaching position 16. At this point a feed wheel (not shown) feeds a wire 14 into a wire guide generally denoted as 18, wire guide 18 positioning the wire for correct attachment of a terminal. A strip of terminals 20 is indexed along surface 21 so as to position an individual terminal 20 at the terminal attaching position 16 at the time an individual wire 14 is fed into the terminal attaching position 16. Terminal strip 20 is indexed by the action of an indexing pawl 22 attached to a cam mechanism (not shown) which operates in co operation with the ram of the terminal attaching machine (schematically shown at 40). Pawl 22 has a terminal advancing lip 22a and .a terminal ejection \lip 22b which is spring biased downwardly by leaf spring 220.

As shown more clearly in FIGS. 24, wire guide 18 of the present invention comprises an upper arm 24 pivotally mounted on posts 26 and a lower arm 28 also pivotal ly mounted on posts 26. Upper arm 24 has a rearwardly converging slot 24a milled on its underside and lower arm 28 also has a rearwardly converging slot 28a milled on its upperside, slots 24a and 28a being in alignment such as to form a conically shaped wire receiving guide. Arms 24 and 28 are also respectively provided with meshing gear segments 24b and 28b, gear segments 24b and 28b having radii of curvature whose centers are at the pivot points of arms '24 and 28. Upper arm 24 is also provided with a hole or slot 30.

Arms 24 and 28 are normally biased towards each other by spring 32, [a space being maintained between arms 24 and 28 by peg 34 mounted on post 36.

A wire guide opening mechanism consists of an arm 38 mounted on ram 40 of the terminal attaching machine. Arm 38 has mounted thereon a plunger 42. Plunger 42 has spring mounted on its end pin 44.

In operation, feed drum 10 positions a wire 14 opposite the converging slots of arms 24 and 28. A feed wheel (-not shown) moves the wire 14 along its horizontal axis until it comes into engagement with slots 24a and 28a. As wire 14 is further moved by the feed wheel, guide 18 positions the wire 14 with respect to an individual terminal strip 20 so that a correct crimping of terminal 20 on the end of the wire will be accomplished. As wire 14 is advanced further, it is stopped in its motion by stop 48. As ram 40 descends to crimp a terminal on a wire 14, pin 44 passes through hole 30 of arm 24 and comes into contact with the upper surface of arm 28, causing compression of spring 50. Further downward movement of ram 40 overcomes the counter biasing effect of spring 32 causing arm 28 to move downwardly. Rotation of gear segment 28b about its pivot causes the rotation of gear segment 24b of arm 24 which will cause arm 24 to move upwardly. This downward movement of arm 28 and upward movement of arm 24 is accomplished after a terminal has been crirnped on wire 14 and thus allows wire 14 to be easily removed from guide 18 without interference from the guide.

As ram 40 moves upwardly, spring 50 is relieved from compression, allowing arms 24 and 28 to return to their normally biased closed position. Peg 34 supports arm 24 in a substantially horizontal position and the meshing of gear segments 24b and 28b as well as the bias of spring 32 function to support arm 28 also in a normally horizontal position.

Thus it will be seen that the wire guide of the present invention provides for correct positioning of Wires 14 with respect to terminal attaching position 16 in order that terminals 20 may be correctly crirnped on the lead ends of wire 14 while at the same time allowing wire 14 to be removed without interference from the wire guide 18 after the terminal attaching operation has been completed.

While the device illustrated and described represents a preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated that mechanical equivalents can be employed without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A guide for positioning wires for attachment of terminals on the ends thereof by a terminal attaching device comprising a frame, a pair of arms vertically disposed adjacent each other, both of said arms being pivotally mounted on said frame, said arms being in operational engagement with each other, said arms having rearwardly converging slots on the adjacent surfaces thereof such that said slots form a wire receiving and positioning guide and means linked to said terminal attaching machine to cause said arms to pivot away from each other after the attachment of a terminal to said wire positioned by said guide such that said wire may be removed from said guide without interference from said guide.

2. The wire positioning guide of claim 1 including spring bias means for normally biasing said arms together.

3. The wire positioning guide of claim 2 including pin means mounted on said frame positioned between the adjacent surfaces of said arms, said pin means adapted to support said arms in a substantially horizontal position and to maintain a spacing between said arms.

4. A guide for positioning wires for attachment of terminals on the ends thereof by a terminal attaching device comprising a frame, an upper arm and a lower arm disposed adjacent each other, said arms being pivotally mounted on said frame, said upper and said lower arms respectively being provided with gear segments on their adjacent sides at the pivoted ends of said arms, said gear segments being in meshing engagement with each other and having radii of curvature whose centers are at the pivot points of said arms, said arms having rearwardly converging slots on the adjacent surfaces thereof such that said slots form a wire receiving and positioning guide and means linked to said terminal attaching machine to cause said lower arm to pivot downwardly and thus cause said upper arm to pivot upwardly by means of the meshing engagement of said gear segments after a terminal has been attached to a Wire by said terminal attaching machine.

5. The wire positioning guide of claim 4 wherein said linkage means comprises a spring biased pin mounted on the terminal attaching ram of said terminal attaching machine, and wherein said upper arm has a slot therein adapted to pass said pin such that downward movement of said ram causes said pin to pass through said slot in said upper arm and come into engagement with the upper surface of said lower arm and cause said arms to pivot away from each other after a terminal has been attached to said wire.

6. The wire positioning guide of claim 5 including spring bias means for normally biasing said arms together.

7. The wire positioning guide of claim 6 further including pin means mounted on said frame, positioned between the adjacent surfaces of said arm, said pin means being adapted to support said arms in a substantially horizontal position and to maintain a spacing between said arms.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,755,760 7/1956 Fermanian et al 29203 2,774,130 12/1956 Folkenroth 2933.5 2,800,158 7/1957 Martines 29203 3,029,494 5/1962 Andren 29l55.5

WILLIAM FELDMAN, Primary Examiner.

M. S. MEHR, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GUIDE FOR POSITIONING WIRES FOR ATTACHMENT OF TERMINALS ON THE ENDS THEREOF BY A TERMINAL ATTACHING DEVICE COMPRISING A FRAME, A PAIR OF ARMS VERTICALLY DISPOSED ADJACENT EACH OTHER, BOTH OF SAID ARMS BEING PIVOTALLY MOUNTED ON SAID FRAME, SAID ARMS BEING IN OPERATIONAL ENGAGEMENT WITH EACH OTHER, SAID ARMS HAVING REARWARDLY CONVERGING SLOTS ON THE ADJACENT SURFACES THEREOF SUCH THAT SAID SLOTS ON THE ADJACENT SURFACES POSITIONING GUIDE AND MEANS LINKED TO SAID TERMINAL ATTACHING MACHINE TO CAUSE SAID ARMS TO PIVOT AWAY FROM EACH OTHER AFTER THE ATTACHMENT OF A TERMINAL TO SAID WIRE POSITIONED BY SAID GUIDE SUCH THAT SAID WIRE MAY BE REMOVED FROM SAID GUIDE WITHOUT INTERFERENCE FROM SAID GUIDE. 